Baby Different Religion to Parents

[Bathsheba]

I tend to agree Fiona. But why do non-practising catholics bother sending their kids to Catholic schools if they aren't going to "back up" what the school teaches at home?

I just read in another thread that if my son attends a catholic school and he isn't a Catholic then he won't be able to take Communion with the other children Now that would devestate him. He loves the Communion ceremony at our church... it's only held once a month but that's the service we try hard not to miss. Maybe i should have second thoughts about the catholic option after all.

ETA: thanks Muppity... I agree! My son would certainly be able to fit right in more-so than children from non-practising families. i have told the registrar at the catholic school that our priest is willing to write a letter of recommendation (he said he would) but she replied that that wouldn't really mean anything it's black or white... you are either christened catholic or not

[fionas]

To answer your question Bath ... because they're lazy. They want the benefits of a private education without putting in the hard yards at home. And again, to me, that's wrong.

I think it's unfair that someone who has a bit of paper from a christening can automatically get into a Catholic school and I think it's unfair that someone who is obviously a practising Catholic can't without the piece of paper.

But to be really honest, I think it's unfair that people can buy a better education for their child, full stop. But that's a different story.

[Bathsheba]

When it comes to educating my children it's a shame that I have to pay to have spirituality and pastoral care incorporated into their schooling I don't think you should have to pay for that either.... but we've paid near 80K for this "privilege" for our DD (she's in yr 8 and attended Anglican schools). Government schools seem to think that spirituality should be erased from our lives.... as if it isn't a part of human history sorry OT personal vent.

If we could afford it i would send my sons to Anglican schools. Their approach to religion is great. From my experience they teach a little bit of all the major religions and offer ongoing pastoral care that reflects our family values. But Anglican private schools charge 10 times as much as Catholic. I'm talking 10k per annum (Anglican) as opposed to 1k (Catholic)

ETA: sorry Muppity, I missed your post again.... eeek! that sounds horrible! I wouldn't tolerate any form of exclusion But thanks for sharing your experience.... I'll definitely be looking into it.

[fionas]

That's interesting Bath ... I DO see your point. Why the discrepancy in fees do you think?

[Bathsheba]

I assume it's because the Catholic Church is a wealthier entity and able to provide larger subsidies on behalf of the students

[AnyDream]

i simply see it as a ceremony into "goodness".

That's similar to how I feel about it, Kitten.

My DD will soon be baptised (Catholic ceremony) - even though I am a lapsed catholic (I now believe in more universal spiritual principles based on my personal mystical experience) it is really important to us to bless and give thanks for the life of our child. For me, the reality is that God is God no matter which vehicle you choose to worship the Godhead through. It is simply more natural for me to approach this momentous ceremony through a church whose conventions I am most familiar with, even though I believe the ceremony itself transcends the boundary of that church.

Does that make sense? In times gone past this thinking would probably have made me a heretic!

[kitten2b]

My DH is Greek Orthodox and I am Catholic, we had a GO wedding (I had a disspensation from the Catholic Church) and our Daughters are both Christened GO, that being said both will hopefully attend the local RC school, DH has had more Catholic schooling than me, they won't be attending the GO schools as the one closest is very very biased "GO is the only way to go" whilst the RC schools are more open around here.

[sconeonamission]

im catholic (minimal attendance) and my dh is anglican (no attendance/non believer but has faith- he just tried to explain & confused me) and we baptised ds anglican in march. I think its only a problem for some minsters. Ours said all godparents had to be baptised and at least one had to be anglican.

[Muppity]

Bath - to add - I was a noncatholic in a catholic primary school. You couldn't take communion until I think it was year 3 when you did 1st holy communion. Some teachers dealt with kids not having communion well and some didn't .

The two extremes of my experience were as follows:
the bad extreme was being excluded from class in year 3 while the majority of the class had "lessons" on how to take first communion - being excluded meant sitting on the steps outside the classroom with two other kids and being told not to move. This same teacher used to make the non catholics sit in the back of the church away from the rest of class (we didn't care - we used to play games and noone would notice).

The good one was where I was given jobs to do in church instead. For two years I was in charge of the overhead projector that had the hymn/song words on it and I had to turn it on and move the overhead if it was a long one and then turn it off. It made me feel included in the proceedings and didn't draw attention to the fact that I wasn't taking communion like most of the kids were.

If it is a concern maybe speak to the head teacher and ask how they deal with such situations.